WRIGHT, John; May RIVERS (illustrator). The Fruit Grower’s Guide …

Polychromatic Pomological Plates

WRIGHT, John; May RIVERS (illustrator). The Fruit Grower’s Guide … London: J. S. Virtue & Co., Limited. [1891–1894].

Three volumes, 4to. In the original publisher’s green cloth, front boards blocked in black to a design of vines and fruit, lettered in gilt, spines lettered in black over gilt and blocked in gilt, edges gilt; pp. xii, 344, [4 (advertisements)]; viii, 344, [4 (advertisements)]; viii, 363, [1], [4 (advertisements)]; 43 chromolithographic plates with tissue guards, chromolithographic titles, numerous engravings in the text; cloth a little rubbed to extremities, spine ends lightly bumped; 1 plate in vol. 3 a little loose; a very good, bright set.

First edition of this richly illustrated pomological guide, with 43 finely executed chromolithographs by May Rivers and instructional diagrams by Worthington G. Smith and George Shayler.

Edited by the horticulturist John Wright (1836–1916), member of the Royal Horticultural Society and long-serving editor of the Journal of Horticulture, The Fruit Grower’s Guide is an important contribution to the literature of British pomology, combining practical horticultural instruction with an extensive programme of botanical illustration. Issued simultaneously in six parts and in the present three-volume format, it brought together the latest horticultural practice in the cultivation of hardy and glasshouse fruits, with detailed guidance on, inter alia, propagation, pruning, training, orchard management, pest control, and the selection of varieties. Intended for both professional fruit growers and knowledgeable amateurs, the work reflects the growing systematisation of British pomology during the closing decades of the nineteenth century, while recording many of the cultivars that defined Victorian orchards.

The numerous diagrams by Worthington G. Smith – one of the foremost botanical illustrators and mycologists of his generation – and George Shayler provide lucid demonstrations of grafting, pruning, especially training, and other practical techniques. The chromolithographic plates, frontispieces, and title-pages reproduce watercolours by Mary Laura (‘May’) Rivers (1862–1939), daughter of Thomas Francis Rivers of the celebrated Rivers Nursery at Sawbridgeworth. Founded by her grandfather Thomas Rivers, the nursery became one of the foremost centres of British pomology, responsible for the introduction and dissemination of numerous improved fruit varieties, including the celebrated Conference pear, which Thomas Francis Rivers helped establish in commercial cultivation following its success at the National Pear Conference of 1885. Rivers produced her drawings directly from cultivated specimens, many representing varieties introduced or disseminated by the family nursery. Executed with equal attention to botanical accuracy and aesthetic effect, the plates were intended as reliable aids to the identification of fruit varieties, and constitute some of the finest published examples of late Victorian pomological illustration.

SKU: 2125823